The Separation of Work and Life

To illustrate complex issues, I frequently draw on the work-life balance as a relevant and timely problem affecting virtually everybody. Usually, conversations are about how to find effective private strategies and good public policies to facilitate an individual and sustainable balance between the two parts of how people spend their time: work and life. There are many different practices applied or perspectives taken, and, for the sake of complexity, I would like to add another question: Is a separation of work and life always meaning- or purposeful (another more logical question would be, if comparing work and life is somewhat similar to make a distinction between apples and fruits…)?

By using the expression "work-life balance", we are implicitly relying on the idea that work and life are something different, something separated from each other. Aside from the logical fact that life includes work, I think it is a worthwhile exercise to question this tacit assumption of a dichotomy between those domains. Quite often, the separation of work and life is regarded as healthy or generally good in an imperative and moral manner. "You should enjoy your leisure time!" or "Could you please stop talking about work during your recreational activities?" are common expressions in this context. I hope that the pressure to enjoy one’s leisure time is not as high as the pressure to separate work and life…

My point is that life and work cannot easily be separated. Do you think that activities like working, living, loving, being a soccer fan, having your friends’ messages on your mobile, chatting privately during work time, having a swim during lunchtime, and so on, are easily separated into the work-life dichotomy? The domains of work and life influence each other and we are not machines being able to throw a lever to shut off life while working.

If the domains of work and life interact, why do we always assume that work negatively affects life? Could it not be that work is positively affecting life, for example by giving meaning and sense through purposeful actions? Many persons define themselves through their professions, while having their personal identities at stake when talking about work.

I think the best way to think about the relationship between work and life is to perceive these two domains as mutually supportive. Bringing in parts of one’s personal skills and knowledge, personalities, even problems, into the work domain enriches the professional environment. On the other hand, there is also a transfer of professional benefits to worker’s private lives. Competencies learned during working time can be used quite effectively in different settings related to the private domain.

Therefore, a separation between life and work does not further the search for a meaningful balance between the two domains. In my opinion, the two domains have to be integrated into a holistic perspective that brings in the best of both worlds under a common purpose. Life will be much easier and more meaningful if we do not have to separate work and leisure time obsessively. 

Humanistic Perspectives in Management

This June, the Humanistic Management Network organized a conference at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, with the topic “Happiness and Profit – Wellbeing as Alternative Objective Function for Business?”. This network has as its objective to promote an economic system which operates in the service of human well-being in the larger context. Out of the many ideas that one could reap at this occasion I would like to highlight the following three:  

1.      Professor Binsweanger, an economist, reminded us that the original economic theory made the comprehensive concept of utility as the goal of our dealings and not the narrow objective of the multiplication of money as has been brought to prominence in both theory and practice these past years. Such a broader understanding of utility is incompatible with both the narrowly conceived shareholder value thinking as also the notion that the gross national product accurately reflects the prosperity, much less happiness, of a society. The financial crisis and the bonus discussion have shown that narrow monetary goal conceptions lead us astray and are nefarious to our common good. This understanding is fully in line with the people for people project espoused here. http://stakeholder-peopleforpeople.blogspot.ch/

2.      Various conference contributions elucidated possibilities as to how the use of multidimensional criteria grids could create indices which reflect the utility of economic as well as ecological and social dimensions. They complement already available approaches in this direction as for example the Global Reporting Initiatives. The utility contribution of a firm or a project is thereby reflected in a more sophisticated manner then a mere monetary measurement. A considerable number of firms already today produce such common-wealth balance sheets and common-wealth reports. Such firms should in the future be privileged by their customers or by the attribution of public commissions, as they serve the common good in a more deliberate fashion. Regrettably, there were no representatives of public institution at the conference; they would, however, have a model function with the promotion of such a common good thinking.

3.      I was especially impressed by an entrepreneur (Mörkisches Landbrot – a bread bakery) who conducts a consequential stakeholder management which is rarely seen in practice. Through a systematic cultivation of the interactions with important stakeholders (for example suppliers or co-workers) he could not just attain a high degree of motivation and loyalty, but also valuable impulses for the increase of innovation and quality. Thereby his operation is also oriented towards a broad segment of the society. This understanding of value creation which he has pragmatically developed reflects to a high degree the theoretical concept which we also elucidated in our book http://tinyurl.com/8ay79k7. He would be a valuable interview partner for our new leadership project http://tinyurl.com/88qqpxy

The most valuable aspect of the conference was the orientation towards practice. The conference also showed me that there is a considerable need to bring these pragmatic approaches onto solid theoretical basis, so that they will not drift off to arbitrariness.

Edwin Rühli